Dust To Dust Read Free Page A

Wyatt, he was as big a masochist as any ing at a party
    woman Tippen had ever dated. He'd finished his drink. As soon as Wyatt's posse cleared the door, he could make his way through the crowd and slip out. Maybe go down to the bar where the Fifth Precinct cops hung out. They could give a shit about Ace Wyatt.
    In the instant he made the decision,Wyatt spotted him and zeroed in with a blinding grin, a quartet of minions trailing after him. He wove through the crowd, touching hands and shoulders like the Pope giving cursory blessings.
    "Kojak, you old warhorse!" he shouted above the din. He took hold of Sam's hand in a powerful grasp.
    Kovac came up out of his chair, the floor seeming to shift beneath his feet.The aftereffects of his close encounter with the board, or the mix of drugs and booze. It sure as hell wasn't his thri at Wyatt's
    1in
    attention. The asshole, calling him Kojak. He hated the nickname. People who knew him well mostly used it to grind him.
    One of the minions came in close with a Polaroid and the flash damn near blinded him.
    "One for the scrapbook," the minion said, a thirty-something cover-boy type with shiny black hair and cobalt-blue eyes. He had the looks for a part in a low-end prime-time drama.
    "I heard you took another one for the cause!" Wyatt bellowed, grinning. "Jesus, quit while you're ahead. Quit while you still have a head!"
    "Seven to go, Slick," Kovac said. "
Hollywood's not beating my door down. Congratulations, by the way."
    "Thanks. Taking the show national is a chance to make a big difference."
    To the Ace Wyatt bank account, Kovac thought, but he didn't say it.What the hell. He'd never had a taste for designer suits or a weekly mam'cure. He was just a cop. That was all he'd ever wanted to be. Ace Wyatt had always set his sights on bigger, better, brighter, faster;
    D U S T
    T 0
    D U S T11

    reaching for the brass rings of life--and catching every goddamn one of them.
    "Glad you could make it to the party, Sam."
    "Hey, I'm a cop. Free food, free booze I'm there."
    Wyatt's gaze was already roarming'for a more important hand to shake.The pretty-boy minion caught his attention and directed it toward the television camera. The Wyatt grin brightened by a couple hundred watts.
    Liska popped up out of her chair like a jack-in-the-box and stuck her hand out before Wyatt could move on. "Captain Wyatt. Nikki Liska, homicide. It's a pleasure. I enjoy your show."
    Kovac cocked a brow at her. "My partner. Blond ambition." "You lucky old dog:'Wyatt said with good-natured chauvinism. The muscles flexed in Liska's J'iws as if she was swallowing some-
    thing unpleasant." I think your idea of strengthening the link between communities and their police forces through the show and the Internet is a brilliant innovation."
    Wyatt soaked up the praise. "
America is a multimedia culture:' he said loudly, as the TV reporter-a brunette in a bright red blazeredged in close with a microphone. Wyatt turned fully toward the camera, bending down to hear the woman's question.
    Kovac looked to Liska with disapproval.
    "Hey, maybe he'll give me a job as a techmical consultant. I could be a technical consultant," she said with a mischievous quirk to her lips. "That could be my stepping-stone to working on Mel Gibson movies."
    "I'll be in the John."
    Kovac made his way through the mob that had come in to drink Ace Wyatt's booze and chow down on spicy chicken wings and deepfried cheese. Half the people here had never met Wyatt, let alone worked with him, but they would gladly celebrate his retirement. They would have celebrated the devil's birthday for an open bar.
    He stood at the back of the main room and surveyed the scene, made all the more surreal by the Christmas decorations reflecting the glare of the television lights. A sea of people a lot of the faces familiar-yet he felt acutely alone. Empty.Time to get seriously hammered or leave.
    Liska was hovering around Wyatt's people, trying to make nice with the main